Discussion Paper

Assessing Community Bank Consolidation

Abstract: Observers argue that increased regulation and supervision added in response to the financial crisis will speed the decline of community banks. Determining if the rate of community bank consolidation is higher than it would have been absent this additional regulation requires a baseline estimate of community bank consolidation. A baseline estimate is particularly important because the number of community banks in the states of the Ninth Federal Reserve District and the nation as a whole has been in a steady rate of decline for several decades. This paper uses several simple methods to provide baseline estimates of community bank consolidation. We will compare actual consolidation against these baselines, updated quarterly, to help determine if consolidation proceeds at a higher than expected rate.

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Part of Series: Economic Policy Paper

Publication Date: 2014-02-06

Number: 14-1